An Automated Christmas
I love Christmas, and I love decorating our home, trimming everything in lights and garland. But there's one part of the decor that I can't stand.
The plug for the Christmas tree.
Maybe you have your tree on a timer, maybe you just leave it on all month long. We used to plug ours in every morning and unplug it at night. This would mean getting down on my hands and knees, brushing aside the sap-covered branches (Yep, we use the genuine artifact around here) and stretching for the plug.
I say used to because now I turn the tree on and off in a totally different way.
Now I open an app on my iPad and push a button labeled "Christmas Tree." And the lights come on. And I push it again. And they go off. It's a beautiful thing.
In reality, I don't have to get my iPad out at all. After putting my Christmas lights on my home automation system, they just turn on and off each day automatically. But sometimes I do it with my iPad anyway, just 'cause it makes me smile.
With a home automation system, this is only a very small piece of what your home's lighting could do.